Ch.416Short Interrogation

“I’d appreciate your cooperation. I don’t have much time.”

I approached the boss who was trembling and slowly backing away.

“Ha, haha! Don’t fuck with me…! You think I, the great Dermont, would be scared into talking by mere threats!”

“Yeah.”

Looking at him, I figured it wouldn’t even take five minutes.

The sight of him desperately aiming his broken black iron sword at me was so pathetic it was almost funny.

“I have nothing to tell someone like you-“

“Wait. For an honest conversation, we should be at eye level first.”

I looked at his ankles, recalling a Greek myth I’d read as a child.

On a hill in ancient Athens lived a man named Procrustes, whose only hobby in life was inviting travelers and treating them with great hospitality.

He was so kind that he not only offered food and drink but also provided a place to sleep. The only problem was that the only bed left in his house was one that had belonged to his son.

It was an awkward size—a bit small for an adult man, yet too large for a child.

It was bound to be uncomfortable for anyone who lay on it.

Not wanting his guests to feel uncomfortable, Procrustes came up with a brilliant idea.

‘If the bed doesn’t fit the body and causes discomfort, why not make the guest’s body fit the bed!’

Thus was born the ankle butcher.

He diligently cut off the ankles of guests who complained the bed was too small, and stretched the bodies of children who said it was too big, making them the perfect size.

His skill was so perfect that satisfied guests never left his house and stayed for the rest of their lives.

Do you understand the lesson in this story?

– Slash!

“Aaaaargh!”

When you meet someone taller than you, cut off their ankles first.

—-

A blue-white arc flashed across the ground.

As both ankles were severed by the blade’s edge, Dermont’s height instantly decreased by about a hand’s width.

Considering men’s typical obsession with height, this was truly a terrible tragedy.

“You, you bitch…!”

“Now we’re roughly at eye level… next I should remove any dangerous objects, right?”

Two swings. Two severed wrists flew through the air.

Blood gushed from the stumps of his limbs.

“Gaaack-! My hands! My hands-!”

“Calm down, you can reattach them later, can’t you?”

I looked down at Dermont who had fallen while making a fuss, and ignited Karma to cauterize the cut surfaces.

– Sizzle!

“Gweeeeek!”

He twisted his body violently from the burning pain of having his wrists and ankles cauterized simultaneously.

Like a pig that had been hit in the head with a mace.

After confirming the bleeding had stopped, I extinguished the Karma and crouched down in front of him.

“Gaaugh… f… fuck…!”

Dermont trembled violently.

When our eyes met, his brown irises dilated and contracted repeatedly in spasms.

His gaze was filled with fear, pain, and hatred.

“Looks like preparations are done. Shall we talk now?”

I sat down on a broken corpse and began the interrogation in earnest.

—-

What I wanted to know was simple.

Just ten men couldn’t have spread drugs throughout this entire area.

These guys were likely just a part of a larger drug organization. Judging by how they prided themselves on their blade skills, they were probably in charge of muscle.

So now it was time to dig up everything about their organization.

“First question. Who’s spreading LSD in this slum? Not the low-level dealers who sell for pocket change, but the suppliers. Where can I find them?”

“Guurgh… y-your…”

Dermont continued with difficulty in a low voice.

“Your…? What’s that? An organization name? Or a person’s name?”

“Your fucking mother, you bitch…!”

Dermont grinned through gritted teeth.

I could only laugh at such typical back-alley thug bravado.

“This bastard still doesn’t understand the situation.”

– Scrape!

I used my fingernail to scratch out his left eyeball like I was doodling.

The cornea tore instantly and the lens was crushed and dripped out.

“Aaaaargh!”

Dermont screamed like a pig.

I finished by plucking out his eyeball and crushing it, then waited for him to calm down.

“Are you feeling more sensible now? Ready to answer?”

“Guuuuh…!”

Dermont trembled, tears of blood streaming down his face.

I tapped his head and continued my questioning.

“I’ll ask again, where can I find your friends? I’d prefer not to take your other eye too.”

“…inside… find…”

After breathing heavily for a while, Dermont finally spoke.

I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying due to his mumbling.

“Speak clearly. Where?”

“Inside your mother’s, go find them there…!”

…Ah, this bastard.

He really loves other people’s mothers.

[Must I continue listening to this nonsense?]

Hersella was fuming inside my head.

Even though she knew the insults weren’t directed at her mother.

[Stop playing around and use your specialty properly. I shall personally observe how long this worm can continue spouting nonsense.]

‘My specialty?’

[Torture, of course. You usually dismantle people completely, yet this time you’ve only plucked out an eye? Who would talk after just that much?]

Well, normally I had priests with me or potions prepared, which made it possible.

If I turned this into a butcher shop by myself, he might die before I learned anything.

“What are you waiting for? You said you don’t have time…! Hurry up and go find your mother! Want me to tell you where? I saw her at that brothel earlier, desperately looking for her runaway whore daughter…!”

Dermont, mistaking my silence for anger, regained his courage and started mouthing off.

Despite having his wrists and ankles cut off and one eye plucked out, he was still talking like this—I had to admire his tenacity.

“Nice try. You think I’ll kill you quickly just because of that?”

His intentions were obvious.

He was hoping I’d abandon the interrogation in rage and kill him impulsively.

You think I haven’t seen your kind before?

“…!”

Dermont flinched for a moment, as if I’d hit the mark.

“Seems you don’t want to talk to me, which is fine. Let’s continue our conversation a little later. In about 5 minutes.”

I stuffed his eyeball, now a lump of meat, into his mouth to shut him up, and summoned threads of Murder Karma from my ten fingertips.

I’m not sure if this will work well…

But it’s worth trying.

[What are you planning to do?]

‘You’ll see.’

I grabbed Dermont by the collar, threw him to the ground, and placed my fingertips on his exposed back.

– Stab!

The Murder Karma threads at my fingertips became sharp needles that penetrated into his body.

Specifically, into the nerves connected to his spine.

I was essentially stabbing needles directly into his nerves.

“Guuuugh! Geeeeek!”

Dermont convulsed and screamed like a lightning-struck beast, but he couldn’t overcome the force I was applying, so all he could do was flop around like a fish out of water.

– Crunch!

“Gweeeeek!”

It was an extremely effective torture method.

There was minimal bleeding so the risk of death was low, while the pain from the scraped nerves far exceeded the pain of amputation or burns.

It was a shame I couldn’t run electricity through him, but instead I could ignite Karma at the tips of the needles to melt his nerves.

I spent about four minutes ravaging his nerves like that.

During the last minute, I made his limbs even shorter and plucked out his other eye for symmetry.

After five minutes.

Dermont was leaking bodily fluids from every orifice, uttering only soulless moans.

“K-kill me…! Please just kill meee…!”

“How pitiful. I’d like to, but I can’t. You haven’t told me anything yet. If you want to die so badly, you should properly answer my questions, shouldn’t you?”

Dermont nodded frantically.

After my five minutes of effort, he had grown from a mama’s boy into a true adult willing to sell out his friends.

He cooperated very smoothly with the subsequent interrogation, and in return, I gifted him with death.

I hung him over a bonfire so he would roast to death very slowly.

If he’s lucky and the fire spreads, he might burn to death a bit faster.

“Take care now.”

“Guuugh!”

I bid farewell to the moaning, struggling Dermont and left the tavern.

My pockets were full of evidence gathered from searching the bodies.

—-

As I thought, Dermont knew quite a lot.

The name and structure of the organization controlling Holon’s back alleys, and even the location of their hideout.

Council of Dream Utopia.

That was the name of the organization spreading drugs in Holon’s slums.

Under a boss whose name and face were unknown, there were three executives, each managing their subordinates in a cell structure to control the back alleys.

…I didn’t expect to hear that name here.

I could roughly guess the boss’s identity just from the name.

The Council of Dream Utopia was an organization from the original story.

Of course, since the original storyline had been completely twisted for a long time, I couldn’t be 100% certain.

The timing of their appearance and their hiding place were completely different from the original.

Anyway, Dermont was a subordinate of the executive in charge of force—the one they had called “sir” earlier.

The other two executives were in charge of drugs and finances… in other words, one sold drugs and the other managed money.

Dermont didn’t know the identities of the executives or their purpose for doing this.

Well, that’s not information someone of his rank would know.

It didn’t matter anyway since I’d already heard the most important information.

The location where the executive in charge of force was staying. That was something Dermont knew well.

I’ll just go and ask him directly.